Improvement in turbine water-wheels



3 OBENCHAI N.

Water Wheel.-

' Patented Deg-26,1871.

' In yen/0r.

MATTHEW w. OBEINOHAIN'ANI) JOHN T. oBnNoHAm, or LOGANSPORT, IND.

IMPROVEMENT IN TURBINE WATER-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 122,275, dated December26, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MATTHEW W. OBEN- CHAIN and J OHN T. 'OBENCHAIN, ofLogansport, in the county of Cass and State of Indiana, have invented anew and valuable Improvement in Water-Wheels; and we do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of theconstruction and operation of the same. reference being had to theannexed drawing making a part of this specification, andto the lettersand figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawing is a representation of a side elevation of ourturbine-wheel. Fig. 2 is a vertical section. Fig. 3 is a bottom view.

This invention has relation to turbines; and it consists in theconstruction and novel form of the body and buckets, whereby, witheconomy in the manufacture, a wheel is produced which is designed toofl'er little or no resistance to the natural outflow of the water inthe secondary movement or reaction thereof.

In the accompanying drawing, the letter A designates the body of theturbine, which is an inverted conical basin with a rounded base, itsexterior surface being of the geometric form of a hyperboloid. Throughthe center of the rounded base passes the shaft B of the wheel, and thisform is adopted for the body, in order to enable said shaft to besecured to the wheel as nearly as possible opposite the middle of thebucket without obstructing the inward flow, and, at the same time, toafford a suitable means for connecting the buckets with the shaft andwith each other. The buckets O are of peculiar form, and are connectedby the conical wall of the body A on the upper and inner side, and bythe ring F on the outer side, at a point lower down or as nearly as maybe in the plane of division between the reactionary face or floor of thebucket and the upper face or wall of impact. The buckets are providedwith flanches E, by means of which they are secured to the body A andring F, which latter is placed sufficiently distant from the uprightedge of the bucket to leave a space for the reception of the overhangingflanch of the case. The form of the bucket may be described in generalterms to be very nearly that of a portion of an ovoid or ellipsoid, thelines of greatest curvature lying below the plane of the circumferentialring; The curved surface is not strictly geometric however, as willappear. Commencing at the inlet edge of the bucket the wall, whichreceives the direct action of the water at first radial, takes anupward, inward, and rearward curve, whichis converted gradually in to adownward, inward, and rearward curve of greater degree. From thiscurvature the surface, passing below the plane of the ring, curvesdownwardly, outwardly, and rearwardly, which gradually merges into arapid upward and outward curvature, extending under, the ring and beyondits inner edge, so that the extreme outlet or centrifugal discharge isbeyond the inlet-lip of the bucket.

The curvature is therefore scroll-like, or rather resembles theoutermost fold of some marine shells of the conch family. The inlet edgeof the bucket is nearly vertical, having a slight upward and rearwardcurve. The outlet or lower edge is a portion of an ellipse or circle,whose plane is vertical and radial, or nearly so, and if produced wouldintersect the body of the succeeding bucket. The outlet has thereforeless area than the inlet-opening.

Water, being an almost incompressible substance of but little cohesivepower, is amenable .to external forces constantly and to a very greating with the volume and velocity of the water and the mass of the wheel.The object of the formation of the lower bucket or inverted hood is toobtain the greatest reactionary effect with Y the least resistance,whatever be. the volume and velocity of the water as compared with themass of the wheel. If the velocity be great with small volume, thetendency of the current is to discharge toward the center, which isfreely permitted by the form of the discharge-opening and the roundedcore or body. If the volume be great with small velocity the dischargewill be chiefly downward, and the velocity of the wheel will depend moreupon the reaction. The form of the lower bucket is designed to give thefullest eli'ect under such circumstances. If both the velocity andvolume of the current are great the discharge will be over the entirelip of the out- STATES ATENT mews 2' let, whi'ehis'desi'gned to presentno-cbs'trnction lips lying nearly in. radial: planes, as. specified tothe natural flow to retardthe' forward rotation and shown.

of the Wheel. In testimony that We claim the above we have Having thusdescribed myinventi0n,I-cl-aim' hereunto subscribed our names in thepresence The turbine herein described, consisting of the of twoWitnesses.

conical body A, the ring E, and the flanched MATTHEW W. OBENOHAIN.

ov'oillbuck ets 0, having their. centrifugal dis- J OHN T. OBENOHAIN.

charge beyond the vertical plane of the inlet, and. v

surfaces gradually increasing in curvature from WVitnessesz.

the inlet to the junction with the ring, and ter- FRANK SWIGART,

minating in full semicircular or elliptical outlet- JACOB MUSSELMAN.(168)

